


Hero of Terraria

by Peter037



Category: Terraria
Genre: Blood and Gore, F/M, M/M, Multi, Temporary Character Death, help me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2020-10-29 01:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20788676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peter037/pseuds/Peter037
Summary: Rod felt his body getting numb, his fingers tingled while the air slowly faded out of his lungs— Then, as the still shy sunlight bothered his rested eyes, a soft chuckle could be heard."So, you are finally awake. Good morning, sunshine”





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So! I just started this little project and I wanted to make sure of somethings here:  
•I'm not an English speaker, so english is not my first language;  
•I speak portuguese, so if you speak portuguese, Hi! Nice to meet ya;  
•I'm open if you guys want to correct anything you think would sound better, just type in the comments;  
•Any hate comment will be deleted;  
•If you like the fic, give it a kudo! It'll get me inspired to get it going 'till the end;  
•And last, but not least, enjoy yourself!
> 
> ♥

Rod felt his body getting numb, his fingers tingled while the air slowly faded out of his lungs— Then, as the still shy sunlight bothered his rested eyes, a soft chuckle could be heard.  
"So, you are finally awake. Good morning, sunshine."

If it wasn't for the man's voice and the chirping of the birds around him, Rod would probably think he was dead. His body was in pain and if his eyes weren't closed, he would also think that there would be bruises all over his poor body. Rod let a groan escape his mouth before he could really stop it and slowly opened his eyes. That voice- Rod didn't recognize it. He didn't remember it at all. And as his mind tried to process what was happening, he noticed that he doesn't really remember anything at all. How did I get here in the first place? Who is this cute boy in front of me? Rod breaks his line of thinking when the guy moves closer to him, concerned eyes looking right through his soul.

"Are you okay, Buddy? It seems like something is troubling your mind.." He stopped in front of him and that's when he could focus on him better than anything. "Let's take things slowly then. My name is Mitch, I am your guide through this world. I'm going to help you survive your first days here." He gave him a warm smile and sat in front of him, in his line of sight. "I actually don't know your name, Hero. Can you tell me?"

name? His mind felt like it had a bullet in it, his eyes were a little foggy from all this thinking and he could hear the man- Mitch- sigh softly, clearly not knowing what to do.

Then, he felt it coming back to him. His name, as simple as it was. Rod. Rod? Was that really it, or was he overthinking? He groaned again and sat up on the dirt floor. Wait, where was he? Rod looked around, at what looked like a small cavern. Maybe even just a hole in the ground, big enough for maybe just five people to move around without bumping into one and another. Mitch moved again in front of Rod and he remembered he needed to say something to him, so things wouldn't feel that strange.

"Rod. My name is... Rod. I think," Rod said in a whisper, and he thought he didn't quite understand what he just said, before smiling softly.

"Rod. What a nice name for a cute face." Rod felt his face get a little warm before Mitch could say anything more. "You were unconscious for quite a while. Maybe half an hour? I've never seen anything like this before." Mitch's smile just got bigger while he was talking. Rod was still trying to understand his surroundings and how the hell he got here in the first place.

It seemed like Mitch could read his mind, since he basically responded to Rod thoughts. "We are in Terraria, a mean world where the evil is always lurking around. You are here because you have a job to do." Wait, could humans read minds? "It's not the best job, but I think it's going to be enough for now. Can you get up?"

Rod nodded softly and got up by Mitch's helping hand. He looked around again then back to Mitch, who was smaller than he thought he would be. While Rod was around 6'2, Mitch was easily 5'4, so it was a good difference between the two of them. 

"I needed to put us both here, before you killed yourself with a green slime while unconscious." Rod stopped for a second and looked confused at Mitch's direction, like he was crazy. A green slime? What the hell was that? Was it something that was lost with his memory? Mitch smiled again and patted his arm, going to a ceiling space that he could easily crawl out. When Mitch left the hole, he looked around for a second then back at Rod, smiling softly. "There are some utensils next to you, if you haven't seen it already. They are all yours." 

Rod looked at the floor next to him and saw three things. An axe, a pickaxe and a shortsword, all probably being copper or something close to it. He picked all of it up and crawled out of the hole, looking at the world around him. It was beautiful, green and full of-

"What the hell is that?!" He jumped out of his skin, getting close to Mitch, while Mitch himself picked a bow off the floor and some arrows. He stretched the bow until it's limits and shot at the goo thing, snorting softly. The arrow pierced the thing, who was probably angry at the guide now.

"This is the 'slime' I was talking about. There are a thousand of those around the forest, you won't have any problem finding them." He shot the slime again, which bounced and broke in various little pieces. That, at least, wasn't moving. "There, you'll need that to create some torches. And wood, you'll need a lot of wood." He crossed his arms, smiling more confidently. "C'mon, I'll protect you from the slimes for now and you'll chop some wood, does that sound good to you?"

Rod nodded and strapped his new pickaxe and shortsword to his trousers, still thinking about everything. He didn't remember how the hell he got here. He didn't even remember his past! Everything was foggy in his mind and he couldn't understand why this was happening. Hero? Mitch called him Hero. Why Hero?

"Why am I here? In this place. How did I get here, Mitch?" He walked to the closest tree. He probably didn't even know how to cut a tree! He heard Mitch's bow shooting, probably at another slime, before he responded.

"You were the chosen one to protect Terraria. I don't know how you came here, that is something I can't help you with." Rod heard another shot. "Terraria... Is a big place that needs a helping hand. No one but you can do that." Mitch looked over to him, and back at his surroundings.

"It seems like a lot of work to do," Rod murmured wryly, starting to cut the tree. He clearly didn't know how to do this, but at least Mitch wasn't laughing.

When he did finally cut the tree, he was sweating like crazy. He sat on the ground, breathing heavily. He heard Mitch snort softly. Rod looked over to him, who was looking at him back, grinning.

"And that was just one tree!" Mitch laughed and took some of the remaining pieces of the now dead slimes off the ground, smiling at him and approaching, while Rod rolled his eyes. "Here, I'll help you." Mitch took his axe, rolling it around his fingers, getting a better grip on it. Then, he looked at the tree on the ground. "You will have time to understand how to cut trees, so don't get stressed over it. Maybe we can make a house before nightfall? It's going to get dangerous." He swung the axe and started chopping.

It was maybe twenty long minutes before Mitch swiped the sweat off of his forehead and looked over to Rod, smiling. "There we go. Did you rest well? I'm not going to do it twice!" He laughed breathlessly and crossed his arms, axe forgotten on the ground. "At least the slimes left us in some peace." Mitch sat on the stump and sighed, looking up to the sky. "It's probably nine or ten a.m right now. We are going to need to get something to eat soon. There are some bunnies around, that probably will be enough. Or squirrels, but I don't think eating a squirrel is a good idea."

Mitch talked so fast that Rod didn't even have time to respond to what he was saying. Though, just nodding seemed enough for him. Rod got up, going to the now cut tree, and looked at it. The tree was parted in at least twenty-five pieces, and they were still big pieces. "I don't think we can build a house with this. There is very little, we are going to need more. Maybe five trees is enough?" Rod let a groan leave his lips, already tired of only thinking about it. He took some pieces of the wood with him. Maybe he could do the torches Mitch said earlier.

He picked up his axe again and broke one piece of wood in four smaller pieces. "That seems little enough." He spoke to himself and walked over to the goo thing. He needed to remember the names. Slimes, that is. He picked up some of it, making a face and walking over to the wood, spreading some on its tip and smiling at his good work. Four torches, at least! He is going to need a lot more of those.

Rod grit his teeth, making an 'ew' sound and cleaned the remaining slime sticking on his fingers, on his trousers. He looked over to another tree and sighed because of the hard work it would be needed for that.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They got it in time, at least.

Mitch the Guide helped him construct the house. It was basically a wood block, but that would do for the day. Mitch taught him how to make a workbench and that already helped with most of the constructing. The "house" was basically empty, with only two chairs, a table, and torches that looked like they wouldn't extinguish over the night. Mitch also taught him how to make doors, and he didn't know how well those things were stuck on the wood walls, but it seemed well enough so it wouldn't just fall over for no reason.

When the sun was upon them, Mitch decided it was time for them to eat something. They found some edible mushrooms and a bunny, which was hard for him to kill, since he was the cutest thing he saw in this place. He killed the bunny and Mitch skinned it, while Rod tried to get the fire bigger. The meat didn't have much taste, but the mushroom helped a little with it. It would be enough for them for now. When it was almost night, they cooked another bunny, since it was easy to get them, since they didn't just run away from you the moment they saw you, which was good.

Rod relaxed in one of the chairs, next to Mitch, nibbling the meat. They didn't even had a bed, it was probably going to be a nightmare to sleep on the floor or the table. He saw Mitch daydreaming and tilted his head to the side, trying to understand what he was thinking.

Mitch looked over to him and smiled softly, before starting to speak. "The night is dangerous, like I've said before to you. But I did not say why it is." Mitch bit down on one leg, humming at the meaty taste. At least he seemed to like it. "There are Zombies and floating eyes lurking around. They are definitely going to see us here and attack. But they only do that at night." 

Rod frowned at what he just said. Zombies? Floating eyes? He just sighed and nodded. At that point, he believed in him, even if he sounded crazy. He smiled and shrugged. "Sure, if you say so," he murmured and looked around the house. "Do you think that this can hold them out? It seems... Like a lot of effort wasted if they can just jump at our throats."

Mitch grinned and shrugged. "Nah, don't worry. They don't know how to open doors. Beside on the blood moon, but it's going to take a while until that happens." He finished his meat and left the bones on the table. "Bones are useful for throwing at enemies, so it's good to say that keeping them will come in handy." Rod nodded and ate more, until he felt his stomach full. He left the bones with Mitch's ones and sighed, groaning.

Everything went fast then.

They heard a loud jerk on the door and a groan from the zombie behind it, probably trying to push it open. Rod and Mitch tensed up, Mitch going to his bow and Rod to his new wood sword he did that afternoon. There was another strong jerk, but it didn't seem like it would break.

"...Should we block the way? Just to make sure it can't enter." he whispered to the Guide, a little frightened. He didn't remember his past, but sure remembered the films, and bites and that gave him chills. He saw Mitch shake his head negatively and sit down again.

"Don't worry, Rod. He can't open the door, he's stupid. And if he enters, we can just... Kill it. I guess? He can't hurt us much more than some scratches, okay?" He sighed, yawning. "Why don't you try sleeping a bit? The floor seems... Good enough to sleep. Until we can get something better." he moved his chair close to a wall and sat, bow in his hand. "I'll take first watch."

Rod looked at him, concerned for a moment, before sighing and sitting on the floor, stretching his back and laying down, sword close to him in case something happened. He closed his eyes for a second then jumped out of his skin when the door gave another jerk from the zombie, clearly insisting on trying to enter. Mitch gave a soft laugh, trying not to smile and snorted, failing miserably. Rod rolled his eyes at the sorry look Mitch gave him and started grinning.

"Oh!" Then, Mitch was up to his feet, coming close to Rod. "Every enemy we kill, will give us a bit of money." He showed Rod at least 4 silver in his hand. "These ones I took from the slimes I killed earlier, they are all yours, since I won't be needing it." Mitch put the coins in his hand and smiled. "We'll need five of those to get the Merchant to move in. So, we need to get more wood, to get this house bigger for more people to move in." Before Rod could make a face, he kept speaking. "We don't need to worry about this right now. Tomorrow is another day, and you'll need to start digging!" He got up and left to his chair again, sitting on it. "You will need more torches and some rocks to make a furnace. Then you will need some lead ore so we can make a lead anvil. I think at least the furnace you can make tomorrow, it's okay if not the anvil, though." He crossed his arms while speaking. "You can find some lead here on the surface, but if you find a Cavern, make sure to look into it, since you may find some pots and chests. If you do find pots, smash it!" He smiled.

Rod was almost sleeping while Mitch talked, his soft voice was comforting to listen to. He nodded at what he was saying, listening even if he was tired. Even the jerking on the door wasn't scaring him anymore.

\--------------------------------------

He woke up the next day, Mitch curled close to him, sleeping softly. Rod blinked a little, trying to get the sleep out of his body and trying to understand what was happening. Mitch said he was going to wake him up for next watch, but he probably just laid himself on the ground next to him and died of exhaustion. Rod slowly got up so Mitch wouldn't wake up, took his wood sword and left the house, looking and seeing the sun starting to peek. So he was an early bird? Sure, why not.

Rod stretched his back, breathing the cold air, and started walking. Mitch said the zombies stayed just at night, so he was sure it was safe if he didn't bump into a slime. Were there giant slimes? He didn't want to know, really. He looked around, seeing where he could go to find some water. He was thirsty as hell, and Mitch was probably too. 

He walked for some time, before finding a small lake that he could drink some water from. Maybe even take a bath? That sounded like a dream, even if the water was too cold because of the cold night. He took off his boots, trousers and shirt, putting them together close to the lake, and entered it until the water was at his knees. It was freezing cold, like he imagined, but that was good enough for now. He got down and drank some water, relaxing a bit, like nothing was wrong since he woke up one day ago. He washed his face and arms, grunting with the cold and put his head in the water, washing his blue hair, taking all of the dirt and sweat out of his skin.

When he finished, he was feeling better and less sweaty. That was a good improvement, even if the lake was supposed to be the one for drinking. He sighed a little, leaving the lake and waiting to dry a bit before putting his clothes on again. He walked away from the lake, thinking if he could easily find another one to serve as a bathing local. He started walking again, making sure not to get away from the path he created in his head and kept walking, thinking maybe he could easily find something interesting on his way.

He did find another lake, this one being a little bigger. Perfect for bathing. When Rod thought about leaving, he saw something in the corner of his eye. When he looked over to it, he saw what looked like a pot that Mitch mentioned earlier at night. He walked over to it, and using the force of his arm, smashed it with his sword. The pot broke in little pieces, some unlit torches inside falling out, with a little of dust in it, but perfectly usable. Rod picked them up, sighing and looking around. He smiled when he saw an old chest like also Mitch said could have around. It was more deep into the cave, but the sun still lit the entrance a lot for him to see around. He jumped down where the chest was and looked around, trying to see if there were any enemies. He sighed and knelt down, opening the chest and looking inside of it. 

Rod hummed, picking up a flask with a light blue content inside of it. He shook it a little and opened it, smelling nothing. Well, this was something he would need to ask Mitch about. He also found a dozen shurikens, some silver coins, and some other flasks with red contents inside of it. He got up again, with all that stuff in his hands, wondering how he would take all of this to his house and not be attacked in the process.

It was some time later until he got everything out of the cave, but it was worth it. When he left, he saw an apple tree, close to the path he had taken to get here. He walked over to it, looking for fresh apples to take. He hummed softly and took four, putting them with the other things. He needed a bag fast, or this would be hard for him to carry all of this and more.

Rod walked for at least 25 minutes and saw Mitch freaking out close to the house. He snorted, tilting his head softly to the side at how terrified he was. When Mitch saw him, he almost melted, running and hugging him tightly.

"I thought I lost you! Where have you been?!" He looked at his face, touching him with his hands and looking for any injuries. "Did you go exploring? You could have at least told me first, you little prick!" He gave him a little slap on the arm, before moving away from him. "You have a lot of things with you now."

Rod laughed at his sudden mood change and entered the house, looking at him. "I found a pot and a chest, there were a lot of things inside of it." He left everything on the table and sat down. "I also found an apple tree, it's going to be useful for us, at least." He moved his hands to the flasks and looked at Mitch approaching him. "What are those for?"

Mitch sat and watched for a second, coming back with his goofy smile. "The red one is especially for healing. It's a lesser healing potion and you can use it if you injure yourself. The other one is a recall potion, if you drink it, it will take you back home, which is close to that hole we were in yesterday. Use this if you are in imminent danger, yes? Later on, you will probably find a mirror. It has the same purpose, but it will not waste anything, it's very useful." He looked at the apples, picking one and biting down, humming happily.

"I found two lakes, I was thinking we could use one for bathing and the other for water supply. I was also thinking about taking some water for you, but I didn't have anything to carry it... Yet." He shrugged, taking an apple too and eating it, grinning softly.

Mitch snorted and rolled his eyes, looking at the direction of the door "We'll need to find a desert, so we can make some glass with the sand." He spoke while eating. "It will make the place look a little more alive than now. It's too dark here inside and I can't tell when it's morning or night." He groaned and left the house, just to throw the rest of the already eaten apple away.

\--------------------------------------

The rest of the day felt like a breeze. Rod used already chopped wood to create a fishing rod and used it to catch some fresh fishes to eat later. Mitch always stayed close to the house or close to Rod, killing slimes and thinking to dry some of the meat of some bunnies to eat as jerky later when needed. He also found edible berries and a blue flower that seemed that would give a colour to the house if he put it on the table.

Mitch decided that it would be safe for both of them to go exploring the woods to find a cave or at least more pots and chests. Mitch gave him more five silver from the slimes that liked to appear from nowhere, but it seemed like they were more rare because of the house. The moment he left the house, the place was infested with them, it was irritating when the time passed and they tried to jump on his back.

When the night came, Rod had enough rocks to make a decent furnace and it was really good for heating the cold wooden house. They used it for cooking, when it wasn't dirty from molten-something. They decided to make a fireplace close to the house and use it before night so they could easily cook. Their kitchen, for now. When it was late enough, and they heard some zombies groaning close to the house, both of them snuggled next to the furnace and slept easily without waking up in the middle of the night.


	2. Underground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the.... 2 months delay! I'm back, and I'll try to post in here more. Like I've said in the last chapter:
> 
> •I'm not an English speaker, so english is not my first language;  
•I speak portuguese, so if you speak portuguese, Hi! Nice to meet ya;  
•I'm open if you guys want to correct anything you think would sound better, just type in the comments;  
•Any hate comment will be deleted;  
•If you like the fic, give it a kudo! It'll get me inspired to get it going 'till the end;  
•And last, but not least, enjoy yourself!
> 
> ♥

Rod was frozen in place. The violet blocks all around him was smiling at his face. The person in front of him, with that white mask. They shook their face and with a smiling voice. "_All hail MoonLord!_". His hands got up into the air and he started floating, a laugh getting off of his chest and then, a scream--

Rod gasped, sitting down, trembling and sweating cold. He didn't know who that person was, but he knew he was powerful.

Rod saw a movement by his side and looked over to Mitch, those was still asleep. He sighed and touched his cheek, sleep crawling over his body again. The house was comfortably hot because of the furnace and it was probably night. He got up without waking Mitch and openned the door slowly, looking at the cold dark night. He could probably take his sword with him, if he ever gets attacked. 

He took his wood sword and looked over to Mitch sleeping curled on himself and smiled. He would come back for that guy. Rod walked over to the table and picked up one lesser potion and the teleportation one. They would probably be useful. He opened the door and left to the cold air. 

He hissed with cold and embraced himself, trying to keep his body heat until he felt better. He walked into the woods, alert for any noise and gritted his teeth, already not liking his own idea. But he knew that he would need to teach himself how to attack those things. He walked some minutes until he heard the first zombie, groaning, laying on the floor.

Rod felt the adrenaline rush to his body and he approached it slowly until he was only 7 feet away from it. The thing jolted and groaned loudly when spotted him, slowly getting to his feet. Rod let a small sound scape his mouth, backing away from it, scared like a cat. 

Then, he felt a strong impact against his head and he was on the ground, moaning in pain. His vision was fuzzy, but he knew his head wasn't bleeding. He tried to crawl away from where he thought the zombie was and let a yelp leave his mouth when it grabbed his boot. He tried to kick it, but it only got on to of him, groaning. Oh god, oh fuck-

"MITCH!!" He gasped, protecting his face with his arm, the zombie bitting down on him. He groaned loudly and screamed, pupils big and horrified "MITCH!!! HELP ME!" He tried to pick his sword, but it was too far away from him, just out of reach. He didn't know where the potions had gone, he couldn't teleport himself away from this.

The realization hit him like a brick. He was going to die and Mitch would be completely alone, and-- He couldn't let himself die! Rod tried to push the thing away from him, pulling his own arm back. He kicked it's stomach and it flies away, hitting the cold floor and groaning.

His arm was bleeding and probably missing a piece, but he would care about that later. He needed to get up and leave as fast as he can- he saw a thing floating close to him. Wait! That was the thing that hit his head earlier. He rolled to the side when it got to close and took the sword with his good hand, moaning in pain, his arm throbbing and hurting like a bitch. Rod attacked the zombie when it crawled next to him, hitting it's head until it stopped moving and started walking in fast steps, panting with the hot pain.

He opened the door and kicked it closed, Mitch moving and sitting on his spot, clearly confused and sleepy. When he noticed the blood on Rod, he got up, walking fast towards him, worry on his face.

"Rod! What the hell happened??" Mitch tried to pull his arm to have a look, but Rod just pushed his arm back against himself again. "Rod- Rod, let me see it!" He sighed exasperated and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him to sit on the table "Why did you leave the house? I told you it was dangerous! Can you listen to what I say at least one time--" 

"SHUT UP!" Rod groaned loudly. "Would you ever shut up?!" He sighed, tears rolling his face from the previous pain. When he looked over to Mitch, he was with hurting eyes and thin lips. Rod sighed again and offered his arm to Mitch, gritting his teeth in pain this time.

Mitch took his time to look over the wound. Deep teeth marks, almost got a big piece of his arm and there where blood everywhere, on his shirt, the most of it. Mitch grabbed Rod's hand and pressed it on the wound. Rod groaned loudly and looked away, huffing. Mitch ran to the potions and picked the healing one. When he got back to Rod again, he splashed some in the wound and made him drink the rest, so it could heal faster. He watched the wound slowly stop bleeding and even more slowly close up, until it was just a big reddish scar. Mitch sighed and sat on the other chair. Watching Rod closely.

Rod sniffed, looking to the ground. That wasn't him screaming at Mitch, he was just in pain. When some seconds passed and no one said anything, he looked up at the watchful eyes of Mitch and murmured. "M'sorry..."

Mitch looked up to his face and smiled sadly, pulling his chair close to him. "I know you didn't mean to. Don't worry." he patted the soft curly hair of Rod "That zombie really did get you good. What was you doing out there?" Mitch spoke slowly, worry on his voice.

Rod sighed, putting his head on Mitch's shoulder, arms on his own lap. "I was getting some air. I had... A nightmare. A strange dream. I guess it makes sense? I don't know.." he spoke softly and fast, trying to correct himself of what he was supposed to be saying.

Mitch looked curiously at him. "What dream? Do you remember it?" Mitch looked back to his arm and kept his silence, waiting for Rod's response.

Rod thought for a moment, trying to fully remember the dream he had. He remembered the guy with white bird-like mask and the purple structure around him. The laugh, and that was that. He sighed and adjusted himself against Mitch "There was this guy. He was around your height, I think a bit smaller. He had a white bird mask with black holes on the place the eyes were. He used, I think it was a blue tunic?" He felt Mitch tense against him and looked at him, confused. "What? Do you know this guy?" 

Mitch bit his lip, still tense against him. He definitely knew something "He... He is a strong enemy. You will meet him, one day. He's a lunatic, a cultist. You shouldn't try making friends with them. It's too dangerous." He said, voice serious this time. "But don't worry about him now. He's not our problem for some time. Let's hop up and sleep, I'm still tired and probably so do you." he walked over the place they were sleeping before, looking worried to his now healing arm. "Please don't do that again. If you want to leave, talk to me first, I don't even need to follow you, just to stay close in case something happens. Like now." He murmured, sitting down.

Rod sighed and sat by his side, his bad arm still against his body. He grinned, laying down "at least it wasn't my good arm being ripped off." He mumbled to the guide, looking at him with soft eyes. "...Sorry again. For... Yelling at you." He sighed again, a bit mad at himself.

Mitch smiled softly at him and snuggled by his side, comfortable "Don't stress yourself. I know you didn't mean that, you were just panicking. So like I said, rest. You'll feel better and you won't feel pain on your arm anymore." He pap-ed his hair and closed his eyes, yawning, his eyes watering. "Man, I'm sleepy as hell. If I close my eyes, I will go right back to sleep." Mitch grinned at the other man, Rod just smiling back. "I _will_, don't test me" 

Rod laughed, grinning and closing his eyes, already happy with the others company. It was some time before he could sleep again, his body slowly relaxing until he was deep asleep.

\--------------------------------------

He woke in the next day, sore for sleeping on the floor. He groaned and rolled to his side, pushing Mitch away from his body, those whimpered with all the moving and rolled to the other side. He was sweating, probably Mitch hugged him while sleeping again. He sat and groaned again, his back hurting like a bitch. He looked around and at the door again, his body still feeling drowsy. He poked Mitch and pulled him by the shirt. "Wake up." he mumbled, while getting up "We need to bath and drink some water."

Mitch mumbled something under his breath, rolling to his side e going back to sleep. Rod rolled his eyes and got up, stretching himself and walked over to the door, opening it and protecting his eyes from the blinding sun. Mitch moaned behind him a soft 'close the door' and Rod snorted, opening it more. "You need to get up. And drink water. C'mon, Mitch." 

Mitch growled softly and sat, eyes red from the sleep. Rod laughed again at his tired face and approached him, helping him to get up. "That wasn't so hard, was it now?" Rod snorted as Mitch playfully pushed him away, stretching himself too.

"Give me a second and we can go." He left the house, hissing at the sun on his face. Rod closed the door and looked over the trees, thoughtful. He used the opportunity to look at his arm, the marks on it was a sweet pink from the bite. It was going to leave a scar, probably. He looked over to Mitch, those was analyzing him. "you are going to need to wash your shirt. It's badly stained." He smiled softly and walked over to him, touching his arm and grinning. "Let's go. I really need to drink water."

  
\------------------------------------

  
Rod led them to small lake, drinking some water and left to the other, taking a bath and washing their clothes. Mitch groaned loudly as the cold water hit his skin, Rod snorting at the reaction.

"I swear, we need a bathtub. And a toilet." Mitch groaned again, shivering. "So cold, holy-Ah!" Mitch stepped in false and was head inside the water. He swims and gasped, gritting his teeth, hearing Rod laughing loudly at his disgrace. "Shut up!" He smiled softly, coughing and walked towards Rod, still on his boxers. "I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't stop laughing." he splashed water at the other man that was sitting at the beginning of the lake. He let a soft yelp leave his mouth and laughs more.

"Hey!" Rod snorted and got up, grinning at him, while watching his clothes dry on a tree branch close to him. "Mitch, you've talked about the caves. What type of monsters are in there?" He shivered softly at the thought, crossing his arms.

Rod saw Mitch thinking while saying a soft   
'Hmm'. Mitch looked away and walked out of the water, trying to dry his hair "well, more slimes-" Rod made a face and Mitch snorted, still speaking "-and worms. I was saying caverns, but I think they are still too far for us to get there yet. So it's still mostly the underground. We need to find some lead, there is probably some around here in the surface, but it easier to find on the underground." He spoke, while he lay down on the grass, the sun softly warming his skin.

They stayed there for almost a hour, dressing themselves and heading back to the house. They ate bits of jerky and headed to the beginning of the cave that Rod had found the other day. Rod lead the way with his pickaxe and wood sword.

The underground were dark, damp and slippery. Rod almost fell and Mitch laughed at his face. Rod gave half of his torches to Mitch and looked everywhere. It was easy to find lead, and even easier to find copper. 

It was over five hours when Rod gave a surprised hum. Mitch approached him and smiled while wiping out the sweat of his forehead. "This is a cabin. There is probably a chest inside, so we should give it a look. But watch your step, there are probably traps around." He murmured to Rod, pulling the rope he found inside a pot and attached to the end of the border so they could go down to the cabin.

Rod huffed a small tired laugh and dropped to the floor using the rope. He looked around traps and walked towards Mitch, those was in front of the doors cabin. They entered the place and looked around. 

The place was small with a lot of cobwebs. Rod coughed and sneezed with the dust. "This place looks like has seen better days" Rod sneezed again, his eyes watering. "Fuck."

He saw Mitch rolling his eyes and walked towards the stairs. The curiosity now on his face. "This goes down. Let's go." He left and spoke again. "Don't forget to get the cobwebs! They are going to be useful for us to make beds." 

Rod gave an annoyed look, picking the strangely rough web and going down the stairs, following Mitch's path. He was looking at some paintings, ignoring the chest. Rod walked over to the chest, opening it and looking inside.

What he found- Wasn't really what he thought he would find. There was a pair of green full of dust shoes, with little wings on it. Some silver coins, more cobwebs and two pink small potions. Mitch walked towards him and gasped happily. "Hermes boots! You are so lucky" Mitch smiled softly and patted him in the head, Rod giving him a confused look "They make you run faster. They are useful for going faster to other places and running from enemies." He explained. "Keep those, we can wash it on the lake." And with that, he left, going back to the paintings.

Rod scratched his chin, picking everything and putting on his pockets. He dusted off the boots and put it on the floor, looking at the difference size between his own shoe. "They are... Bigger than my feet. I can easily put my foot with my shoes inside this." Rod slowly stick his foot inside one of the boots, grunting as it was a little tight. Then, it slowly mold itself on his shoe, going smaller, like his shoe wasn't in there in the first place. Rod was with a surprised look on his face, looking up to Mitch only to find him grinning like crazy at Rod.

"Armor and things on your body mold itself on your body when you put it on your clothes. Strange, no?" He smiled and let Rod put the other boot. He helps him getting up and look at Rod with soft eyes "Let's go, it's better if we leave."

Rod reaches to the pocket where the teleportation potions are stored and grabbed two, giving one to Mitch. Both drank it down, Rod feeling dizzy and teleporting back to the forest, close to the house. He makes a face and puts a hand on his mouth, the nausea coming full force to him stomach. He ran close to a tree, leaning his hand on it and throw up all that was inside his belly. He groaned at the taste, and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, Mitch softly patting his back. Rod murmured a soft 'thanks' and both walked towards the house, tired.


	3. Sand and Antlions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the delay! This chapter, was by far, the shortest, but I assure you guys that I'll make a bigger chapter!
> 
> Aaaand we are almost hitting 100 hits! I never thought that so many people would read this fic! I'm so happy, thank you all <3 And thanks already for the kudos! This will give me so much inspiration
> 
> •I'm not an English speaker, so english is not my first language;  
•I speak portuguese, so if you speak portuguese, Hi! Nice to meet ya;  
•I'm open if you guys want to correct anything you think would sound better, just type in the comments;  
•Any hate comment will be deleted;  
•If you like the fic, give it a kudo! It'll get me inspired to get it going 'till the end;  
•And last, but not least, enjoy yourself!

It was almost one week when Rod found where the desert were. Rod thought that it would be a good idea to get some food with him and go exploring, so that was what he did. He left Mitch alone in the house and began to walk into the forest.

He needed to walk for some good hours when there was less and less trees and the dirt became sand. It was starting to get hot, the air dry and unpleasant. He saw dead trees, cactus and some little strange flowers, that looked like it was perfectly hydrated. Rod grabbed one and put it on his backpack that Mitch had found for him some days ago. It looked like it would be useful and Rod would definitely ask Mitch about it.

Rod also made sure to grab some sand, as he thought it would be pleasant to have some windows on the house he constructed and the one he was finishing, as Mitch said other people would find their way to where they were living to stay or just stay for a while.

He walked around for some minutes, before hearing a soft chirp at the distance at his left. He looked and prepared his new lead sword. It was seconds before he saw the strange and big thing that was probably the antlion that Mitch talked about, dashing on his direction. Rod got stiff in place, with horror splashing on his face as the antlion got closer, with it's big looking claws and long legs. It was easily bigger than him and looked like it would bite his organs out.

Rod jumped out of it's way on the last second, when it tried to attack and jump on him, he landing on the soft sand. He groaned with the now sand inside his chest plate made of copper, that was already hot with the sun directly on him. Rod wasn't fast enough, as the thing attacked again, he giving a soft yelp and protecting himself with his armored arm.

The thing pinched him with it's claws, chirping again, pushing itself against Rod and trying to get closer.

"Fuck!" Rod cursed under his breath, and grabbed the short lead sword he had clipped onto his belt and pushed it against it's hard looking skin. It chirped high enough to make his ears hurt and dashed away from Rod, giving him time to get to his feet.

The antlion was bleeding a soft white ooze that looked disgusting. It looked at him like it was angry for his attack and lashed itself into Rod again. Luckily, Rod was prepared this time, turning himself on time for not getting hit and using his sword to cut him deeply. The thing didn't get far, attacking again and this time biting down into his leg.

Rod hissed in pain, his eyes automatically watering with the pain, but he didn't let that stop him, as he penetrated it's head with the sword, the thing letting a pained sound and falling lifeless on the sand, where it belongs.

Rod fell to his butt, leg bleeding, since it didn't have protection. He grabbed his backpack, one hand trying to stop the bleeding while the other tried to find one of the healing potions that Mitch made sure to put on. He grabbed it and drank most of it, dropping the rest on his leg and sighing softly as the pain slowly became bearable. It took some long minutes to the flesh to put itself together and to Rod being able to get up again.

He sighed and looked at the corpse, with a disgusted face. He kicked it softly to make sure it was dead and started walking again, backpack on his back and sword clipped again on his belt. He walked slowly a bit to make sure his leg didn't hurt too much and walked faster, groaning with the hot sun on his face.

"God damnit, it's so hot!" He exclaimed, whimpering while walking. He walked almost an hour, before he found that strange hole on the ground, enormous, that he could easily enter. He decided that it would be a good idea to explore, and if things get dangerous, he could just teleport with his teleportation potion.

He sat on the sand and slowly got down, the sand pushing him down the hole, almost pushing him to it when it stopped and just became a way down. He pulled some rope and hardly adjusted it so it was firmly placed and got down inside it, already preparing his torches to use them against the dark place. When he felt floor on his feet, he adjusted himself and let go of the rope, lightning one torch and sticking it on the wall. He used the already lighten one to light another and looked around, humming softly and starting to walk. It was seconds when he heard more chirps and Rod groaned, rolling his eyes.

"More of those? Are you kidding me-" he stopped talking, the chirps getting louder as he heard behind him something flying. When he looked, he saw that enormous antlion flying on his direction. He dashed away from it, panicking softly while saying 'fuck' some times. He jumped on a small hole on de ground, and lay down on his back, trying to get as further away from it. The thing was able to push it's head inside, but didn't get further than that, softly hissing at him and then leaving, probably knowing better than leaving it's head exposed for getting hit.

Rod sighed and relaxed, questioning himself for getting into this bad situation. He needed to get away from those things without them noticing and leave to explore and find useful things. Then, he could use his teleportation potion and go home, where he had his brand new bed that he used with Mitch, since he didn't find much cobweb for more. He would make sure to find anyway. 

Rod got up and looked around, making sure it was safe for him to leave and jumped out of the hole, grunting softly. He adjusted his backpack and picked one torch, lighting it and sprinting away from there with his Hermes boots. He knew the thing would probably be right behind him, so running was the best idea.

Thought, he didn't hear anymore chirps or wings flapping, he kept running until he almost hit a door. He looked at the door, confused for a second, before sighing tiredly. "who in the lovely fuck would like to live here..?" He opened the door easily and entered, closing as soon as he was inside. 

Rod looked at the small place, seeing a chandelier on the ceiling and some cobwebs around. He got on the tip of his toes and used his torch to lit up it. When it was done, he humph-ed in approval and walked to the lowest part of the cabin, where he was sure he would find a dusted chest. He saw another chandelier, this time on the floor, full of cobwebs and right next to it, the chest. Rod walked to it happily and openned it, looking inside a dusted squared thing with some yellowed buttons. He also found 2 gold coins, some shurikens and five healing potions, those he put inside his backpack. He sat on the floor while holding the thing and clicked on it's power button some times, until a green screen appeared.

Rod sticks his torch on the floor and look at information it was showing up. He hummed softly as it was saying there where 7 enemies around him, what made his skin jump a little, just now knowing how dangerous that place really was.

He questioned himself if it was worth it to stay or not, but puffed a bit of air and got up, going to the exploring once again, since he just got here.

\---------------

Rod explored for almost an hour, before the sttufy air left him dizzy. He found some gold and some copper, and also some strange rock-looking that he couldn't mine. He sat on the floor, groaning and drank the teleportation potion, that left him wanting to puke when he was sitting on thin grass. 

He lay down on the grass and slowly breathes, cold air hitting his lungs on a pleasant way. When he open his eyes again, he see Mitch walking to his direction, bow and arrow on hands, a soft smile on his face.

"Well, looks like you decided to show your face" Mitch sits down next to him, humming. "Did you find anything good?" He pokes the backpack, since Rod was laying on his belly and open it, trying to take a look inside.

Rod groans e snorts, taking off the backpack and giving it to him. Mitch opens it all and inspected inside, a soft gasp leaving his lips. "you found a Radar! It will be useful for you when you are on the caves." Mitch smiles softly, looking at him. "How did things go, though?"

Rod rolls over and sits, grinning. "Besides getting bit on the leg by that antlion thing and getting chased by another, I guess things did go well"

Mitch huffs and pushes him softly, closing his eyes. "a progress is still a progress."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's how Rod looks like right now! (without the wood chestplate, of course. [and without the scars! you'll see how he get's them later on ;) ])  
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1274137249448313&set=pb.100005561502802.-2207520000..&type=3&theater


	4. Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, hey! Wow, it have been a while. Sorry for the waiting! I promise I will give you guys more content, don't worry! Have fun

It was hard. Definetly something he never did, since he never actually left the city, from the vague memories he had from the past. The caves were big, dark and damp, and the more he walked down, more dangerous it actually got. The slimes were not small and shiny, but actually dark and bigger. Mitch called those Mother slime and it made sense, since when he killed that thing, smaller ones appeared from inside of it. They were a pain in the ass, but nothing Rod could not handle, for now. Rod heard those things digging and was silently praying for it not being more antlions or something worse. He sat at the edge of cavern floor that made him go even deeper and looked around. 

For now, the only thing he found was pots and the creatures, he wasn't being that lucky with the houses. He gave it a deep sigh and pulled more rope out of his backpack and throwed it down, just to see how far it would go, until he heard the sound. He looked behind him, he was definetly sure that he killed all the creatures behind and definetly almost had a heart attack when he saw how close that skeleton was from him.

Rod gave a small gasp, when the skeleton throwed itself on him, pulling him down. He grabbed the edge, before he could fall and grunted, looking down at the thing holding onto him and kicked it on where it was supposed to be his stomach and Rod could almost see it hissing at him. 

"Let go, damnit!" he grit his teeth, the skeleton grabbing him harder with his bony, hard fingers. Rod gasped again, his head going swimming when a full hard bag hit both of them, his grip on the edge almost loosening. He felt the skeleton falling and grabbed harder, looking up, to see another figure. 

It was dark, Rod couldn't see him very well. He was looking down at where the skeleton had fallen and back to Rod. The strange figure chuckle and gave two steps, to leave Rod space to struggle himself up again. "I'd lend you a hand, but last time I did that, I didn't get it back for a month." He spoke in an amused tone, looking up to the human.

Rod was almost surprised to see the other skeleton, but Mitch said he would inconter other people that would not be human. He sighed and gave him a small smile "Thanks, for saving me."

The skeleton chuckled again and pulled his bag back to his shoulder "No problem. At least, that will not be a problem if you buy something from me." The Skeleton moved his head softly to the side, as almost like he was smiling. "I have potions, glowsticks, arrows... Every little thing you can imagine!" He pulled his bag to the side and opened it, showing it to Rod.

Rod was almost perplexed, confused with that new person selling him new things. and looked inside with all the things he had. He pulled his hand down to the glowsticks, grabbing a few and looked at the skeleton "How much is this? Is it expensive?" He looked back to the man, that was already with his hand up for the money.

"Oh! Yes, no, it's not expensive, don't worry. Each one is only 10 copper coins, and since you grabbed exactly 6, its only 60 copper coins." He spoke, proud. Rod made a soft 'oh' sound, pulling his backpack down and grabbing the needing coins. 

"Here. You can have those." Rod mumbled and put it on his backpack "I already have some, but more is always welcome." He adjusted himself again and crossed his arms, his face going serious. "Thank you again for the help, I don't know what would happen if you didn't show up to help me." He snickered when the skeleton moved his hand softly on a 'it doesn't matter' way.

"Don't mention it, Hero. Have good luck on the Caverns." The pulled his bag and walked away from Rod "By the way, my name is Jack. You'll meet me again another day." Jack slowly disappeared into the darkness.

Rod sighed and looked down again, grunting. He sat down and pulled a glowstick, throwing it down and seeing the darkness being illuminated. It wasn't far, so he could jump down wintout breaking a leg or killing himself. He looked around, trying to find the skeleton, only to find it walking away, sometimes looking to see if Rod would for some reason leave the place he was on. Rod sighed and jumped down, preparing his sword and torches.

The skeleton was already on his tail, running as fast as he could towards Rod, throwing his hands and trying to grab anything from Rod. Rod used his sword to push the skeleton away and used all of his strenght to try and break one of its mayor bones and getting it's shoulder dislocated and falling on the floor. He was definetly getting better at this.

The skeleton grabbed Rod's neck with his only hand and squeezed hard, Rod coughing and hitting it's face with his fist, the skeleton getting stunned and letting go second later, not before clawing Rod's face. Rod groaned loudly, blood on the bones of the creature. He pushed him again, the skeleton insistently pulling him. He grabbed the shoulder strap of Rod's backpack, those let him get it just so they could get a space between them and he could hear the cracking sound of glass breaking inside of his backpack when the skeleton dropped it down on the hard floor.

Rod prayed for it not to be his teleportation potions with his heart. He didn't want to be stuck inside that place. He advanced on the skeleton and used his sword, it hitting it, on it's skull. He could hear the bone breaking and the skeleton falling to the floor. Rod was breathing hard, his cheek bleeding. He dropped his sword and ran to his backpack, oppening, panicking. "Oh fuck, oh no.." He saw all of the water of the potions running down, wetting his pants, the glass falling on the floor. His eyes started to water, panicking going even harder on his chest, since there wasn't much he could do. He pulled more the backpack closer and looked inside of it, slowing sighing in relief when seeing just one potion remaining, the soft blue colour still inside of a flask. He sat on the floor and wiped the blood from his face, the adrenaline leaving his body. 

He sat there for a couple of minutes, breathing slowly and trying to stop the bleeding, since there was not any potions left for him. When he got up again, his body was aching, but he knew he could still explore that place for more time. He got his torches and his sword again and looked around for more ores. Rod was happy for not encountering any more creatures since the skeleton and broke any ore he saw.

Until he walked into something strange. A Heart-shaped ore, floating silently into the darkness, unmoving. Rod stepped closer, suspicious of it being a trap. He poke it with his sword and jumped away, just like a scared cat and nervously laughed, coming closer and grabbing it softly, that thing releasing an eletric feeling, that made him want to jump around, the feeling of wanting to live more than anything. he blinked, and noticed the second before, how the was kneeing in front of nothing, his hands put, holding anything. He looked at his own hands, confused and got up again. The energy was still on his body and both of his knees hurting, like he was already on that position for long minutes. 

He sighed and touched his cheek, noticing how it was now a scar. He blinked again, more confused and certanly going to ask what actually happened to Mitch... he started walking again and stayed inside the mines for more hours, his body tired and aching, when he teleported back home, almost night this time.

"There you are! I thought you weren't coming back today." Mitch walked closer to him, a bright smile on his face, until he saw the scar. "Oh, wow. What happened to you?" He reached his hand to the scar, his face now worried. "Did you use a crystal? A Heart crystal makes any wounds heal faster and leave scars."

Rod blushed at the soft touch and looked up at the direction of the house. "a skeleton clawed me, but it's ok." He sighed, pulling his backpack away from his back. "Besides, I'm exhausted and that thing broke all my potions. All i want is a rest." He grinned, when Mitch started to push him towards the house.

"Let's go, the bed is waiting for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember if I ever said it, but! Rod is 6'2 and Mitch is 5'7 !


	5. Nursing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Yes, this one was really fast to post. I Wanted to post it before the Journey's End was released and get to know better the new NPCS, so I can add them to the fic!
> 
> If you want to talk to me, feel free to add me!  
Twitter: @RodrigoOTrigo2  
Discord: RodrigoOTrigo#8904
> 
> I would be very happy to answer any questions!

Rod got used about everything going around him. Some days were harder, but nothing that he couldn't handle. It was some bites and hits, but surely it wasn't too hard.

It was good that the Nurse appeared on the right moment.

After being attacked by a bat and a skeleton, Rod used his recall potion and was face to face with two new people. One of them was clearly a medic, since her clothes showed that. White and red crosses around her. She was blond, green eyes and a look on her face that could actually kill you. More friendly than most of the creatures around this place.

The other person looked older. He had a big white beard and brown looking clothes. He was probably the merchant that Mitch talked about.

Rod opened his mouth to speak, before being interrupted. "Dear lord, what happened to you?" The Nurse spoke, a clear displeasure on her voice, while she walked closer to him. "You poor thing. Did you get digested by a slime? Attacked by bats? There, there." She walked around him, analysing his bruising and deep cuts.

Rod made a confused noise on his throat, crossing his arms. "Digested by a slime? What are you talking about?" He saw her rolling her eyes and he snorted, looking at her.

The Nurse stopped and looked back at him, crossing her arms back at him. "that'll be 2 silver." He spoke and Rod sighed, going for his backpack, while quietly mumbling how unfair it was for him to have to pay for everything. "You know, I have to pay for my things too, you are not the only one that needs money." She grabbed the money gently from his hand and immediately started taking care of him. "I'm Holly, by the way, I'm the nurse. And this is Walter, the merchant." She said, while healing his wounds. 

Rod sighed and smiled. "I'm Rod. The guide is probably somewhere around, his name is Mitch. We are probably around here almost a month or so." He hissed softly when Holly pressed her hand on a sore part of his arm.

Holly pat his head and walked next Walter, who had been watching Holly with an astonished look on his face. When he noticed that she had finished with him, a bright smiled opened on his face.

"Hello there, Rod!" He walked closer to Rod and grabbed his hand, shaking. "It's nice ta' finally meet'cha." He shook his hand again and pulled Rod close. "I'm here to help with things that you might need over the time! You accidentally lost your axe? No problem! I'm also selling those! I can also sell all types of dirt! Piggy bank, all of those sort of things!" While he spoke, he used one of his hands to shove things around, likely just to show off.

Rod definitely wasn't the type that liked being touched. He didn't remember his past, and the only person that did touch Rod without trying to kill him was Mitch and now Holly, but he guessed that this old man made it too much. He unwraped Walter's arm around his shoulders and walked a little away from him. He sighed and made a hand for him to move on and continue. He was actually interested in some of the things that that man was selling.

Walter grinned and continued, snickering. "Personal space, yea? You do you." As he spoke, Rod saw Holly rolling her eyes again and walking in the direction of the houses, probably making one of them, hers. Rod eyed Walter again and never being happier to know that that bastard also sold torches, ropes and glowsticks. It was going to be easier to walk around after all.

Both of them heard footsteps behind them. Rod immediately looked, relaxing and already knowing who that was. Mitch ran at their direction, stopping at their sides and gasping for air.

"I-I'm so sorry.." he spoke after a few breaths. "I was killing some slimes... I heard new voices, but I couldn't come immediately." He stood straight and smiled to Walter, his smile being something that made Rod hypnotized. "Welcome to the forest.. I'm Mitch, the guide. You must be the merchant, yes?" Rod blinked a few times, looking back to where the Nurse left and walked at that direction, leaving Mitch and Walter to talk privately. 

It wasn't hard to find Holly. She was after all in one of the houses, at the window, smoking a cigarette. She didn't seem tense, but it looked like something she did all the time and Rod was happy he did the houses separately. He walked closer to her and looked over to the trees and then looking back at her. 

"What do you think? We have beds and fresh food, for now at least we enough." He looked at her for a few seconds, waiting for a response that never came. "I'm gathering materials for a decent bathroom, it will come in some days." He sighed and closed his eyes, listening to the forest music and smelling the cigarette gross smell.

"It's a cute place. I can't call it home yet, but looks like a decent vacation house. It will get better over time." She spoke, throwing the tip of the cigarette over the window, next to a trashcan that Rod had made a few days ago. "I can help, when you are doing more houses. After all, there will be more of us, over time." She said, sighing and clearly wanting to avoid the topic for now. "Have it been only you and the guide-" she moved her hand towards Mitch's and Walter's voices, now closer to the houses. "-For all those days? It's incredible that you didn't die." 

Rod rolled his eyes immediately for what she said. Rude. 

After a few moments, Holly got another cigarette, lighting it up and slowly smoking it. "But I guess I have to give you some credit. For me to come, you used a heart crystal, so that's already a point. And you created two houses." She looked at him, smiling gently. "So yes, good job." She looked over the window again. Rod could see where she was going with this.

"Thank you."

\--------------------------------------

It had been hours since the two new residents had came. Holly made sure one of the houses were hers, and Walter had already a table full of things he was selling. They clearly had accommodated themselves and things where going quite smoothly.

Rod had some pride on the houses he made. He is sure that in his past life, whenever he was living, it was clearly something not involving creating houses. He was too thin to even think that that was actually a possibility, so the fact that both he and Mitch actually made it happen, was... Fulfilling. Both of the houses had beds, tables, a small kitchen and like Rod said before, an almost working bathroom.

After the talk with Holly, Rod walked back and stayed with Mitch, not interrupting his conversation with Walter, but staying next to them anyway. Rod made him feel comfortable, the only thing that was actually good in that hellhole. When Mitch left Walter for him to accommodate himself, he walked back with Rod to their house, and stayed there until night time.

Strangely, he heard no zombies, nor did he hear the banging of the devil eyes on the rooftops.

"Why aren't they attacking us now?" He questioned, curious and surprised. "They always do, why not now?" He said, caressing Mitch's hair, his head on his lap. His hair was soft.

Mitch hummed pleasantly, his eyes closed and body relaxed. "They don't come when there are too many people in the houses, so we are actually safe right now." Mitch opened his eyes and looked at Rod. "We can stay around the house without being attacked, for now on. We just can't go that far, but that won't be a problem, I guess."

Rod sighed at the news and relaxed against the wall, pulling the blankets more closer against his back. "At least more good news." He mumbled and yawned. "I'm getting tired so easily now." He said and smiled. "And now we dont have to worry about zombies bursting through our door." 

Mitch made a strange face for a second and sighed, opening his eyes again and reaching his hand to Rod's face, papping it softly. "You should go to your bed and sleep." He said and sat up, leaving Rod to get up easily. "When you are ready, we can expand our houses. There are other biomes that are also good for it, not just the forest."

Rod nodded and got up, walking on the direction of his bed. "First things first, I need to upgrade this house, I think two bedrooms would be good." He smiled and layed down on the soft bed, sighing and relaxing completly. "Good night, Mitch."

Mitch laughed softly and looked at him with lovingly and friendly eyes. "Have a good night, Rod"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I asked for, again, ANOTHER commission to Satannael6! Its both my ocs from Terraria, Rod andddd Umbra! Go give him some support!  
https://twitter.com/Satannael6/status/1224839651363606529  
Also, thanks for reading and thanks for the comments of the last chapter! As I said, comments give me more energy to keep going with this fic <3


	6. BloodMoon

It was hard. The air tasted like iron and the door wouldn't stop banging. Rod tried his best to maintain the door closed, while Mitch pulled the table closer to the door. His left cheek hurt like a bitch and Rod was sure that zombie had cut him pretty deeply.

\--------------------

Walter discovered the old bag of marshmallows he had with his stuff and gave it to Rod, shrugging when Rod looked at him, raising an eyebrow. Rod smiled and walked closer to the little campfire they had. It has been some days since Holly and Walter appear at his doorstep and he didn't mind it at all, since things easily turned more peaceful.

Beside Walter saying he was too thin to do something against tchulhu. Chulhutu? Cthulhu. He didn't know what that was, but it was preferable for him to not know. He would ask Mitch later, or maybe another day.

All that he knew right now, was that the day was hot, but he still wanted roasted marshmallows. He called for Mitch and Holly to come join him, Holly politely declining and Mitch happily coming closer to sit on the log next to him.

Most days came like that: them relaxing or Rod exploring the caves. He realized he never wanted to go closer to the desert and that the snow biome Mitch talked about to him was far away. He wouldn't mind making a house there, the cold was like a brush on this cheek that remembered him something close to home. A brother that he probably had, or a mother that took care of him. He didn't remember those. It was a part of him almost completely erased.

He felt the energy that connected him to something... Or someone, but he really didn't know what that meant, and he wouldn't bother Mitch with something that probably didn't involve the Terraria world. Rod looked over the dark sunset, then back to Mitch. He didn't question what was in front of them, in the future. It was something he was scared of asking, he knew something was going to happen and his heart was in pain every time he thought of it. He knew Mitch would eventually tell him about it, but he would happily wait for him to speak his words.

He sighed and nudged Mitch softly with his elbow, catching the others attention. Rod smirked and gave the other man a branch with a marshmallow already sticking on it, wich the other took without question, smilling.

"I guess I never asked you this, but how old are you?" Rod asked, his voice low and private, his marshmallow getting soft and mushy with the heat of the fire pit.

Mitch grinned and snorted, sticking his marshmallow as well. "I guess it wouldn't work if I tried to lie to you." He mumbled and pulled the marshmallow, already a little dark and puffy, closer to him. "I am Twenty-seven."

Rod chokes on the sticky marshmallow in his mouth, looking at Mitch, his brows furrowed. He thought Mitch would be younger or at least his age. Mitch laughed loudly at the expression he was making, tears already on the side of his eyes, while he snorted.

"I- I'm sorry, but your face was priceless." Mitch said, a bright smile on his face. Rod rolled his eyes and snorted, poking Mitch softly with his elbow, smiling too now. He kept eating the rest of the marshmallow, looking back at the fire pit. "How old are you, anyway? Your hair makes you look like you are on your eighteens, but I know better."

Rod laughed softly, pouting. "I'm 23, but if you say I look younger, i will take the compliment." He looked back at the sunset then back at Mitch. "let's eat more marshmallows and head back inside." Rod said and Mitch nodded, picking another marshmallow, humming. "We need to find scissors, by the way. My hair is too big and the color is getting horrible." He said, not thinking about anything. "I wonder how is my hair without the dye. I do look a little blond, if I say so myself." He grinned, looking at Mitch, wich sat on the log beside him, silent. He tilted his head to the side, a little worried. "What?"

Mitch shrugs and smiles softly. "Nothing. I'm just overthinking something, nothing really to worry about." Rod stared at the other man, knowing if something was bothering him, a little bit of pressure would do the trick to make him talk. Mitch eventually sighed, giving up. "Just- The wheater is a bit strange, the air is tasting strong and the sky is redder from the sunset. I'm just.... Worried. But nothing you should worry about. I think." Mitch shrugs again, already going for his third marshmallow. Rod had forgotten how of a sweet tooth he was. Holly made cookies one day and Mitch was the one that ate most of them. Holly was still mad with him till this day for that.

Rod sighed and got one marshmallow for himself as well. "I think it's nothing, don't worry." He said, sticking the 'raw' marshmallow into his mouth. Even him saying that, didn't ease the tension on his shoulders.

Mitch looked at him with questioning eyes. "You did get a heart crystal at the caves some weeks ago, didn't you?" He asked softly, his eyebrows furrowing. Rod gulped the marshmallow before speaking.

"I found two yesterday, actually." Rod saw the surprise on Mitch's face at that and spoke again before the other could say anything. "I forgot to say it to you, sorry. Breaking an arm makes you forget those things, it hurts pretty bad." He grinned again and it was Mitch's time for rolling his eyes. Rod gave a soft laugh. "I feel so much stronger, though. I can take more hits without it really making something to me." Rod throwed his branch at the fire pit, still looking at Mitch. "I definetly have an iron skin." He winked at Mitch and made a move to kiss his own bicep, laughing at the disgusted reaction Mitch was making. 

...

Rod really didn't have time to think. One time he was laughing with Mitch and the other, he was protecting Mitch with his new sword he made five days ago. There were definetly more zombies than the usual. More eyes than he was ever attacked and too many of those... Things. Rod pushed Mitch toward the house, when zombies attacked him. The thing bit hard on his exposed arm and Rod let out a loud yelp of pain, trying to get away from it.

The problem was, there were too many and they were accumulating. Before he could deal with the one biting him, another came, pushing both the other zombie and Rod to the floor. That would leave a pretty nasty scar. Rod used his fist to punch the other on the face, panic slowly consuming him, when a arrow pierced the one biting on his arm into its head.

Rod panted and pushed its lifeless body away from him. He looked for a second to the bitten arm, he couldn't feel most of it anymore and he didnt know if that was good or bad. He got up faster than the thing in front of him and slashed it's head off with the sword he always kept on his waist. He trotted to Mitch's direction, feeling now the blood running down his cheek. He didn't even see anything hit his face. He gasped for air for a second and pulled Mitch using his good arm.

"Let's go inside!" He grunted, knowing that there probably more of those things right behind them, by the horrified expression on Mitch's face. Both of them entered the house and Rod closed the door behind him.

"They can open doors! We need to put something against it!" Mitch gasped the words. Rod nodded and pressed his back against the door hard and pressed his wounded arm against his body, groaning. Mitch made a surprised noise when he saw Rod's arm. "Your arm..!" 

Rod softly grunted "just get the table, for the love of God." He grunted when felt one zombie throwing itself against the door, more violent than ever, pressing himself harder, sweat rolling down over his face and neck.

He didn't knew if it was the blood flooding his senses, but he was pretty sure he could feel the taste of iron on his tongue, like the own air had turn itself into that. Rod groaned when the door was again banged against, his arm moving harder and clearly the adrenaline leaving a bit of his body.

Mitch wasn't much of guy who could lift things or push, it was too much for him. That's why he used a bow! Easier to hit things from afar, without having the chance of them hitting him back. So he was pretty sure that being strong wasn't his strong part. Still, he pushed that god-damned table like his life depended on it- which he was pretty sure it was true. When the table was close enough, Rod helped him, pulling the table and pressing it against the door, groaning again. Rod sat on the table and finally stopped, staying still for a couple of seconds, enough to see how the wound of his arm looked like.

It definitely seemed better days. It was worse that the first bite he took from the first time and it would scar even worse. He was pale from blood loss and his body was tense, his muscles hurting. He saw how quick Mitch was trying to be. He grabbed a couple of cloths and one potion, running back to him.

Rod grunted in pain when Mitch started to wrap his arm with the cloths, but was immediately relieved from part of the pain when the potion Mitch had thrown over the cloth made contact with his skin and meat. Mitch was fast in cleaning his face and of course, made sure of Rod to drink every last of it. He hated the feeling of sickening it made when he drank it. 

Most part of the pain was over and the zombies was still banging at the door, the table and Rod being heavy enough for them to not to enter.

Rod sighed and closed his eyes. "I hope Holly and Walter are ok. We didn't have enough time to react and see if they were ok." He mumbled to Mitch, who was making sure the patches he had made on his arm, was tightly enough to not slip.

"They will be fine, they can handle themselves." Mitch responded, smiling softly. "Holly is really good with needles and Walter is really good with throwing knifes, a pretty good gang." He chuckled and patted his shoulder, still looking worried. "How are you feeling? You lost a lot of blood with that wound." 

Rod shook his head, eyes still closed. "I'll be fine, like always." He said and smiled to himself. "I definitely had worse."

Mitch used the last cloth to clean off the sweat on his face and neck. Rod was only thinking that it was to leave the wounds clean and nothing else. Rod lay down on the table, grunting. "Can you pick up my blanket, please." He moved his hand towards the bed.

Mitch looked at Rod, amused with how Rod thought that it was a good place to lay and rest. "Don't you want to go to your bed? I can stay at the door, no problem." All of the response he got from that was shush and moving hand Mitch chuckled at that, getting up and going towards the bed. He picked up the blanket that was at Rod's bed and walked over to him, throwing it at his face and laughing at the little 'oof' Rod had made. Mitch snorted softly and grabbed a chair, pulling it close to the table and sitting, observing him. "Thank you for trying to protect me, Rod."

Rod opened his eyes and looked over to him, smiling. "Just doing my job." He mumbled gently.

\--------------------

The night didn't to as smoothly as Rod would like, but it went better than nothing. His arm stitched itself back to it's original place, as the one in his face. The zombies tried to enter the house multiple times, but aways gave up one time or another. Rod had the time to get some naps between those silent times and always woke up scared and tired, never sleeping.

Rod saw on his new watch, how the zombies and eyes ran, when the clock hit 4:30, like they knew it was daytime and Rod and Mitch finally relaxed. They adjusted the table on it's original place and headed back to their own beds, crashing hard and sleeping some good hours. 

It was probably the best sleep he had in the last months.


	7. Arachnophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! Another chapter! That's what inspiration does to us. I hope you like it, PLEASE comment here if you are liking the fic, it really helps me do that, to know that you are enjoying! Have fun!

Mitch slapped his hand away from his face. "Stop poking your scar, it's going to damage the tissue." He hissed to Rod and the other guy shrugged, smiling.

"Sorry, Dad. Won't happen again." He simply said and stretched his back, whimpering. It has been some days since the blood moon and Rod had completely recovered, but the scars were still here. Holly said she couldn’t help with closed wounds, so Rod had to deal with the scars he got. He sighed and looked at the new house they did, proud. More people could move in and this house was the best one he has done yet. He got quite experienced with cutting down trees. He sat on the floor and looked over to the other man that had helped him, smiling. “Thanks for helping, as always.” He sighed, swiping the sweat out of his forehead. “It’s some hard work, but it always pays off in the end.” Rod lays his back on the soft grass. looking at the sky. “And we got to do it on time record, it’s not even noon.”

Mitch sat by his side, softening and closing his eyes. “No problem. It would be easier if we had more helping hands, but we did it anyway.” he sighed, and pulled a little on his shirt, feeling hot. Rod watched them for a moment, before looking away, flustered. He shouldn’t be thinking about that. “It’s so hot today.” Mitch whimpered.

Rod snickers, looking back at him. “You should take off that shirt of yours. I’m feeling hot and I’m using a tank top… Imagine using a shirt.” He sat and could see the blush going on the others face. “C’mon, you don’t need to be shy.” He laughed softly and poked the others waist gently. “I can give you my shirt if you want.” That caught their blushy face attention, as he looked at the other man.

“Yeah, no thanks.” Mitch said after some seconds, starting to pull the sleeves and squirm out of the shirt. After he got out of it, Mitch sighed of relieve, feeling the soft breeze on his skin. He didn’t have time to really appreciate it, though. Mitch yelped loudly when two big hands grabbed him by his waist and pulled, starting to laugh when Rod started tickling him. “NO- WAIT-” He said loud, already gasping and squirming, grabbing Rod’s wrists, trying to stop him. Clearly, Rod was way stronger and was able to hold him in place.

“That’s it, you two stop.” They both heard that female voice and Rod stopped, looking up to see Holly, taking off her high heels and joining them, sitting on the soft grass beside them, taking a box of cigarettes out of one of her pockets and fumbling around, trying to find her lighter. Rod let go of Mitch, messing with his hair and smiling, sitting too.

“I didn’t know there was cigarettes on this world. Now it makes sense the smell coming from your house, Holly.” He gasped, surprised when saw Mitch reaching a hand to try and get one cigarette himself. “Not you too!” Holly just slapped Mitch’s hand away, the same laughing softly.

Mitch smiled at him, crossing his arms. “I don’t, I was joking. Don’t worry, sunshine.” Rod blushed at the old nickname. He didn’t know what tormented him more, Terraria or this simple nickname. Mitch pats Rod on his arms, snorting at his small pout and poke the tip of his nose. “Now you are the one being shy. You don’t really like when I call you sunshine, huh? I’ll stop, I promise.” Holly watched both in silence, lighting her cigarette. Mitch suddenly remembering that there was actually another person with them. “How has being your day, Holly? How’s Walter?” He spoke softly, smiling at her.

Holly just rolled her eyes and smiled back, almost grinning. “I’m fine. The temperature is comfortable and no one of you boys are sick, so it’s a win for me.” She spoke, voice low, but friendly, just like the way she always was. “Walter said he saw something interesting in the woods. I wouldn’t bother going to try and find him, though.” Holly inhaled the smoke to her lungs and silently sighed, dark circles around her eyes now more visible than ever.

Rod looked at her, a little bit worried. “You don’t look like you have been having a good night of sleep, H. Are you sure you are alright?” He spoke in a private voice that only them three could hear, but she only shrugged, quiet now. “Okay, you don’t want to talk. Fine by me.” He sighed and got up. “You two should enjoy yourselves. I need to take this, that it’s still quite early and go explore the caves.” He mumbled.

Holly rolled her eyes again and looked at the other man, serious. “You don’t need to go do this now, Rod. it’s quite early on your recovery, even if you have already the scars.” She offered, gently. “You don’t need to progress fast, you can do it in your time.” At that, Rod shrugs and smiles, not sitting back down.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” He said and walked away for both of them and going back inside. All his stuff was beside his bed, so Rod took his time to dress himself and get his backpack. He sighed and looked around, it could be like always his last time here, he could die the second he put his head out of the village. He adjusted his backpack on his back and walked out of the house, without looking back.

It was a long walk to the caves and it was definitely the worst part. The hot sun against his chest plate is something he wished he couldn’t feel sometimes. It was too hot and he didn’t like it most of the times. He passed by Walter on his way, waving at the other man, that waved back in a friendly way. At least he knew that, when he was back, he would meet his family again. 

Family. Again on that topic, huh. Rod shake off those thoughts and watched as the cavern appeared at the horizon, next to a big elevation on the floor. He trotted to the entry of the cavern and looked down there, analyzing the feel slimes that had fallen down there. He sighed and got down down the rope. 

\--------------------

He definitely didn’t like what he saw.

He couldn’t feel the air on his lungs, his throat was closed and tight and his limbs felt heavier. He pulled himself against a wall and analyzed the feel big fucking spiders that entered that hole on the wall. He never felt this specific… Feeling. Yes, he was mostly always scared, even zombies scared him, but that was definitely next level. He trembled and backed off, hands shaking and every sound being loud. He was being over sensitive, but it got him… Feeling strange. He needed to go back home. He had spend too much time on the caves, he didn’t want to stay anymore time there. Not more than necessary. He pulled his backpack and looked over his things, brows furrowing. He couldn’t find his mirror. Did he leave it at home? Fuck. Fuck, fuck. 

He sighed and took the potion, since he always had some for in case something like that happened. He opened the flask and heard it. That soft sound. He stopped every movement he was doing, to listen. It was coming from the spider cave direction. He sealed the flask again and looked over the wall to the hole. There was not anymore spiders there, all of them entered the hole. Rod tiptoed towards it, now curious but still ready to run. Then, he heard it again. A soft wounded whimper. 

He sighed again, already regretful of what he was about to do. He grabbed a torch, lighting it up and putting it on the wall. He grabbed his pickaxe and started opening more of the holy, trying to make it bigger, his heart on his throat. He really didn’t want to do it, but if there was a person in danger, he will try and do his best to try and at least, save that person.

Rod then heard a soft hiss behind him, and he was the second time that day, regretful. He was happy that he could turn fast enough to hit it on its head as hard as he could, the thing making a pained noise and jumping on him.

Rod yelped loud, his body getting yeeted into the hole he was just finishing making for himself to enter. He struggled against the spider, his back hitting soft cobweb. He would be disgusted if there wasn’t already one of those things on him. He was able to pull his sword, hitting its hard carcass with it, grunting. The spider didn’t budge, only hissing louder. Rod could hear other spiders moving around, getting closer. 

Rod panicked. He punched the thing on the face and it hissed at him, running away, stunned with the metal hitting its face. He was able to move around a little bit, caught on the cobweb hard. He used his sword to take it away from him. Doing that, he felt his back hitting hard the floor, a soft ‘oof’ leaving his lips with that. Rod got up fast and prepared for any attack. He was happy that he had drunk that potion of lighting before, he was able to see the spider coming his way.

It was a couple of minutes before he was able to really breath. There were a lot of spiders down there. His knees stopped working and he feel to the ground, breathing hard, the adrenaline leaving his body. His hands never trembled that hard and he wanted to cry. His mind was heavy as his body and the parts where he was hit, hurt the most. He was definitely not lucky with all of that. He gave himself a couple of minutes before he got up, looking for the person he was trying to save in the first place.

He was regretful the third time that day and he thought how many more times he could feel that same feeling. He heard the soft click when he stepped on the pressure plate on the floor. He yelped and throwed his body out of the way, really not being lucky this time. Rod bit hard his lip when he felt the boulder hit his foot, the cracking sound already something he was almost used to. Beside the bites he had taken days ago, that was definitely the worst pain he ever felt. Forget about slimes trying to digest you, or eyes hitting your head like bricks thrown at your direction. He gasped, a loud pained moan leaving his lips and tears rolling down his face. He heard shuffling next to him and paled. The voice he heard wasn’t something he thought he would hear. 

“I… Was going to warn you about the trap. I guess I really wasn’t… fast enough, heheh..” Her voice echoed at the almost empty cave. Rod felt relief going on him, expect the still pain going on his leg and he looked at the direction of the voice, while sitting. It was hard to see her shrunken and tied up on his side. She was small and had colored hair. It was the person he was looking for before. Rod crawled his way to her direction, his foot now basically useless. He used his own sword to cut out all the cobweb restraining her and sighed. “Thank, hun! I would give you a free cut if you’d come earlier.” She smiled and got up, analyzing Rod and his foot. “Your foot doesn’t look that good.”

Rod gave her a pained sigh and responded softly. “No shit…” She offered her hand and Rod grabbed, getting up and supporting himself against the wall beside them. “My name is Rod, I’m the… ‘hero’ from terraria.” He said, low voice. 

The girl beside him helped him move, his backpack long forgotten when he fell from the hole in the ceiling. “My name is Petra. I’m a hairstylist.” She said happily, while Rod grabbed the backpack and fumbled around it, looking for the teleportation potions. He smiled at her, now.

“That’s great, I really need a new haircut.” He said in a friendly way and Petra only smiled. “Here. Use this, it’s a teleportation pot, it’ll teleport you to my base… Village.” She nodded softly and both used the potion, Rod hitting his back on the bed, groaning, while Petra teleported outside. Rod heard a surprised noise outside, coming from definitely Mitch and the new girl, Petra. 

He got up and immediately felt nauseous, sitting back down. He groaned again, taking off his chest plate and got up again after a couple of second that he knew he would just throw up on the floor. He used the wall to walk towards the door and opened, meeting the soft sun hitting his face. It was almost night. 

Holly and Mitch were on the new girl, Holly with a medkit and Mitch asking questions, clearly worried. They all heard the door opening, their heads tilting on his way.

“Ah! You can take care of me later, he needs medical attention!” Petra spoke, a soft pout on her face. Holly rolled her eyes and Rod could see the ‘of course he needs’ written on her face. Rod snickered softly and wandered back inside, Holly entering and Mitch following her right behind. 

Holly scowled at him, pushing him to the bed. “How did you do that now, Rod?” He didn’t even need to say anything, as she pulled his foot up the bed, Rod making a pained face. She slowly took off the armor of his leg and foot.

“Boulder.” Rod said, quietly and Holly sighed, analyzing his now purple and swollen foot and she didn’t ask anything more from him. He felt a soft hand on his and Rod looked up, smiling softly at Mitch, that was shyly holding him. “I’ll be fine, Mitch, don’t worry.” He said softly, the same voice he always used with the other man.

“Of course you will, I’m the one treating you and I’m the best doing it.” Holly muttered, her voice had a clear worry on it and Rod snorted, closing his eyes, while Holly injected her healing with the syringe, whatever that was. Rod felt relief already, the pain almost leaving his body. “I will bandage this, but I need you to stay still for the night. Mitch, do me a favor and go get him something to clean and food, please.” She huffed and Mitch excused himself and left, letting Petra enter the room. She sat on the chair next to table and started cleaning her hair. “I will be with you in a moment, miss Petra.” She said and Petra shook her hand, smiling. 

“Don’t worry about me, it’s just a cut on the leg. It doesn’t even hurt that much.” She mumbled, going back to take care of her hair. Rod closed his eyes, letting himself be taken care of. He felt Holly finishing and leaving his side, going to Petra. 

Holly took care of Petra and pulled her with her, taking them to the new home made Mitch and Rod had made early. Mitch took some time to come back, sitting by his bed. “I made mushroom soup! It’ll help you heal.” Mitch said and Rod opened his eyes, smiling at him. He took the soup and drank it slowly, Mitch helping him take the cobwebs on his hair and neck. He used a wet cloth to clean his sweaty face and left him be. 

His belly was full and he was tired. He was definitely going to talk to Petra tomorrow and even maybe, style his hair. He hoped that he wouldn’t have nightmares with those goddamn spiders.

**Author's Note:**

> I've wanted to show this, but go support @Satannael6 on twitter for inspiring me on doing this fic! He also did all of this amazing commissions, wich show how Rod is!
> 
> https://twitter.com/Satannael6/status/1173006470016851969
> 
> https://twitter.com/Satannael6/status/1163875384523460609
> 
> https://twitter.com/Satannael6/status/1224839651363606529
> 
> Go give him some support!! ♥


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